Toronto Raptors: Top three games of the 2019-20 NBA season so far

vs Philadelphia 76ers – November 25

At the beginning of the 2019-20 NBA season, there were a lot of questions surrounding the Toronto Raptors. Just how good could they really be without Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green on the roster?

Siakam was expected to make the jump to primary scorer but whether or not he could translate into that position was heavily debated. The Raptors were without Kyle Lowry and Serge Ibaka in this game, so the chips were already stacked against them to some extent. What we got was a fun game of basketball and a glimpse at – what would probably be – one of the best regular seasons in Raptors’ history.

The last time the two teams met was Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals and in a moment that will go down in history. Kawhi Leonard’s series-winning buzzer-beater was the first of its kind and it would send the Raptors to only their second-ever appearance in the Eastern Conference Finals.

For the Sixers, this would be the ultimate chance at revenge. Only it wasn’t. This game will go down in history as the first zero-point game of Joel Embiid’s career – with Marc Gasol and company holding him to 0-of-11 from the field.

A back-and-forth game saw the Sixers attack the Raptors from the three-point line with Josh Richardson leading the scoring, while Fred VanVleet and Pascal Siakam did the business for the Raptors. After a phantom foul from Terence Davis took Josh Richardson to the line, the game looked to be heading in the wrong direction.

Until Richardson missed not one, not two, but all three free throws. The Scotiabank Arena erupted and the tide turned. The Raptors would win the game on a 10-0 run with 3:51 remaining. Pascal Siakam would make two game-winning plays, one on each end of the court.

The hype was real.